Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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28. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the quality of information her Department has on the individual skill sets of each of the over 14,000 persons in Kerry on the live register; if efforts are being made to bring these skills to the attention of industry leaders, if she would consider establishing a website with an anonymous serial-numbered account for everyone on the live register, with their CVs and other relevant professional details, which could be categorised by industry and made accessible to employers to enable them to search for suitable employees and offer them interviews; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43409/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Deputy will be aware that the Department of Social Protection has undergone a significant transformation in recent years with the merger of welfare and employment services, which up until 2012, were provided by three separate organisations. This on-going transformation agenda is underpinned by the Government's twin-pronged approaches set out in the Action Plan for Jobs, focused on creating additional jobs in the Irish economy and Pathways to Work, focused on trying to ensure that as many as possible of new or other vacancies in the economy are filled by candidates from the live register. This merger facilitated the redesign and reconfiguration of services so as to improve the quality of service the Department provides to jobseekers and employers. In particular, it enables the Department to ensure that jobseekers registering for income supports have earlier access to employment services

The development of closer links with employers as a means of securing work opportunities to which jobseekers can be referred is another key aspect of the transformation agenda. To this end the Department established a new employer relations division in early 2012 and appointed nominated employer engagement managers in each of its thirteen divisions to increase its engagement with employers.

The employment services operated by the Department through its divisional and national support services and the European Employment Services (EURES) network deliver a range of services to assist employers in relation to their recruitment and employment support needs. This includes the provision of a dedicated vacancy and candidate matching service through the National Contact Centre, operating as Jobs Ireland. The Department also provides candidate matching services to employers in each of its offices around the country. The provision of this service utilises information relating to employment history and educational qualifications collected from jobseekers at their initial registration with our welfare/employment services and in their one-to-one engagement with case officers.

As part of the process of building closer links with employers the Department ran a series of employer road-shows in 2012/2013 and also hosted several employment and advice events across the country. A high proportion of attendees at the employment and advice events were unemployed people. Further similar events are planned for 2013/2014. Marketing collateral has been developed and a particular effort is being made to increase awareness of the existing recruitment subsidies available to employers. A jobseeker's information pack has also been developed. Employer and jobseekers information packs are available on

The Department's South West Division covers County Kerry. The Department's policy of engaging with employers is being actively implemented in Kerry. This includes case officers regularly calling to employers promoting employer services such as Jobs Ireland, JobsPlus, JobBridge and job matching supports and attending employers networking events in the Kerry area. Local management also have Local Employment Services and associated Partnerships in Kerry promoting these services and supports. A further avenue of services promotion is through locally organised Job Fairs, the most recent of which was held in Killarney in May 2013.

The Department's new Intreo service is a one stop shop for all income and employment support services for our jobseeking customers. The Intreo service in Killarney commenced in January of this year and the service has also has been partially introduced in Tralee and Listowel and it is intended to have it further rolled out in these towns and in Cahirciveen and Kenmare by the end of the year. Local Intreo services continuously promote local vacancies to unemployed clients and carry out matching to alert clients to suitable vacancies. Department staff also progress unemployed clients to education and training programmes to better enable them compete for job vacancies as they arise. The Department's work schemes such as Community Employment, TUS and Gateway are also providing key interventions and supports to enable long term unemployed prepare to progress into full time training and job placement.

In order to ensure a quality service for jobseekers and employers, the Department is in the process of developing its current Jobs Ireland web service. It is intended that that the new system will provide enhanced online employment services for jobseekers and employers allowing employers to advertise their vacancies and search for jobseekers while all jobseekers will be able to search for vacancies, training and to create an online profile that will allow the jobseeker to demonstrate their relevant skillsets and experience to prospective employers. The option of making registration with this online service compulsory for all jobseekers who are in receipt of a welfare payment and are deemed 'job ready' by the Departments case officers is under consideration and is being catered for in the development of the new system.